Federal Judge Sandy Mattice has directed attorneys to proceed with a deposition in a complex lawsuit by the government against Cleveland, Tn.,-based Life Care Centers of America.
Lawyers for Life Care said they would need 127 days to depose the government's expert witness, Dr. David X. Cifu, "because of the complexity of each individual opinion and the amount of documents relevant to each opinion."
The government said it should be done in three days.
Judge Mattice said he would reserve judgment on the defense request, but directed that a three-day deposition of Dr. Cifu be held. The deposition is to be videotaped.
Earlier, Life Care attorney Roger Dickson said the government fraud lawsuit is so broad that it could take over a year to try it.
At the time, government prosecutor Elizabeth Tonkin acknowledged that the case involves 60-80 of Life Care's 225 facilities and hundreds of patients.
She said the government will seek to prove fraud was so widespread at Life Care that a certain sample number of charges should be considered invalid.
She told the judge that Life Care routinely "filed false claims for therapy that was not medically necessary and much more than what the patient really needed. The charges were assessed at the highest levels possible from the time patients came into the facility."
Prosecutor Tonkin said the probe dates to 2006. She said the government started issuing subpoenas for records from Life Care in 2008.
Attorney Dickson said the issues involve "subjective decisions by physicians and therapists."
He said the situation involving each patient "can be a mini trial lasting a day or two."
The suit seeks to recover millions of dollars that Life Care "caused the Medicare and TRICARE programs to pay for services that were not covered by the skilled nursing facility benefit, that were not medically reasonable and necessary, and that were not skilled in nature."
One "whistle blower" complaint was brought by Glenda Martin, a registered nurse and a former staff development coordinator of Life Care Center of Morristown, Tn.
Another was by Tammie Taylor, a former occupational therapist of Life Care Center at Inverrary, in Lauderhill, Fla.